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UO professor makes case to invest in ‘green’ jobs

“It is critical that Congress act now to prevent a prolonged recession by focusing on spending that can employ workers and businesses quickly,” Cassandra Moseley said in testimony Wednesday before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in the nation’s capital.

“The restoration and maintenance of our nation’s forests and grasslands, acceleration of wood-based energy development, and the greening of federal facilities offers significant opportunities in the short term by providing jobs in regions and sectors that are likely to be hit particularly hard by this deep recession,” said Moseley, who is director of the Ecosystem Workforce Program in the Institute for a Sustainable Environment at the UO.

…“With $8.5 billion, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management estimate that, together, they could create approximately 127,000 direct jobs over the next one to three years,” she testified. By making such investments, “We can create the foundation for a sustainable economy, in which our public lands and rural communities play a vital role in providing our nation with a wide array of ecosystem services ranging from carbon sequestration, clean air and clean water to renewable wood products and low-carbon energy.”